Henry defends Reds transfer strategy

John Henry said he was disappointed Liverpool have no new striker, but he defended the club's summer …

Liverpool's principal owner John Henry has defended the club's summer transfer business, but admitted his disappointment at failing to add to their strike force before the end of August.

Manager Brendan Rodgers offloaded Andy Carroll to West Ham on loan a day before the deadline in the belief he would secure a replacement more suited to his style of play, but the window closed without any new arrival and that has led to criticism from fans - and Rodgers himself has admitted he would not have allowed the misfit to leave had he not been very confident of bringing in someone else.

"I am as disappointed as anyone connected with Liverpool Football Club that we were unable to add further to our strike force in this summer transfer window," said Henry in an open letter published on liverpoolfc.com.

"But that was not through any lack of desire or effort on the part of all of those involved. They pushed hard in the final days of the transfer window on a number of forward targets and it is unfortunate that on this occasion we were unable to conclude acceptable deals to bring those targets in.

"But a summer window which brought in three young, but significantly talented starters in Joe Allen, Nuri Sahin and Fabio Borini as well as two exciting young potential stars of the future - Samed Yesil and Oussama Assaidi - could hardly be deemed a failure as we build for the future."